It was the Rizzoli branded weekend and it was a weekend that is embedded in the history of Modica. Because the City lived and shared from Friday 28 to Sunday 30 June, three moments of the highest importance. Scenarios 2024 has now entered the collective imagination of the Modicans and it has done so even more in recent days, dedicated to the feast of San Pietro. Thus summarizing that “virtuous circle between the institutions – as underlined by the superintendent of the Fondazione Teatro Garibaldi, Tonino Cannata – represented at a regional level by the commitment of the Honorable Ignazio Abbate, by the municipality starting with the mayor, Maria Monisteri and by the Free Municipal Consortium of Ragusa, with private individuals, provoking joint mechanisms that are a generator of beautiful things for the City”.
The image of the steps of the church dedicated to the patron saint, packed in every row of seats by almost 2,000 people who listened to Paolo Mieli last Friday, the eve of the celebration, tell ‘The Authoritarian Century’, in conversation with Enzo Scarso, is a photograph that will transmit unique sensations over time. A great emotion, so many people and so much emotional participation that conquered Mieli, literally fascinated by the beauty of the place but also of the people and the spontaneous and natural enthusiasm that welcomed him. And the enthusiasm generated by one of the sixteen events of the review signed by Mondadori BookStore, Fondazione Teatro Garibaldi and supported in an important way by the presenting sponsor Mutika EMC, is the affirmation of that desire to quench one’s thirst for healthy culture that Scenari 2024 represents. Mieli has traced the century and its contradictions; as a historian, as a journalist, as a careful observer he did not miss the opportunity to say ‘yes’ to the bridge over the Strait of Messina, stating that preconceived, political ‘no’s’ are a misfortune for a country that wants to grow. Not of this but of much else – from wars to politics, also passing through some important facts of the news – one of the most illustrious signatures of Italian journalism spoke. Enraptured by a wall of attentive and participating crowd in listening to him.
On the day dedicated to the Patron Saint, one of the most appreciated faces of the Mare Fuori series, Valentina Romani – Naditza in the successful TV series – told Chiara Scucces, ‘Guarda che è vero’, her first literary work, in which much of her and her ability to convey delicate sensations of life emerges. Like each of the authors of the event, she also spent two days in the unique setting of La Terrazza di Mutika | Le Case, where the ‘guests’ are hosted before and after the event; excited, happy with this moment and fascinated by the city and its vitality, Valentina Romani arrived at the municipal hall that welcomed her with convinced applause and chatted for more than an hour about herself and her novel. Telling it above all in the sensations that inspired it but also in its meanings, sometimes hidden, sometimes obvious. An hour of dialogue that accompanied the evening sometimes interrupted by fireworks for the celebration that made this moment of Scenari 2024 even more beautiful and more enjoyable.
Review that on Sunday 30 June, experienced another moment of great emotional impact, thanks to Giovanni Grasso and his ‘L’amore non lo vede nessuno’. And it was a very pleasant, empathetic and very engaging conversation, the one conducted by Saro Distefano with the 62-year-old Italian journalist, writer and television author, advisor for press and communication to the President of the Republic and director of the press office of the Presidency of the Republic since February 2015. Arriving in the suggestive courtyard of the former convent of Carmine accompanied by the CEO of Mutika EMC, Stefano Giaquinta, Grasso talked about the novel and its characters, creating a common thread with himself, not sparing himself even in hilarious moments that created even more empathy with the many people who came to listen to him and also talking about Saint Augustine, about friendship, about extraordinary and guiltily forgotten figures such as Father Paolo Dell’Oglio, whose story few remember perhaps ended tragically and that Grasso, in this story of friendship and relationship, made reappear alive
Piera Ficili, Mondadori BookStore, artistic director Scenari 2024: “Immersing yourself in the beauty of their stories, experiencing them in contexts like those that only Modica can offer, repays all the effort and commitment that we put in with those who collaborate with me for these beautiful evenings. I heartily thank the presenting sponsor Mutika EMC for a shared path that has put its signature at the bottom of these days, making them even more noble. I thank our partner sponsor Coop Sicilia, the main sponsors Avimecc, Leocata mangimi, Inventa design, ST Sergio Tumino and the sponsors Goldwell banker, Studio ANM, Gruppo Minardo, Polara, Esagono Ceramiche, Profumerie Ferra, Studio commerciale Sammito, Agenzie Generali. A team game, a ‘group’ of economic resources of our city that are the vital drive for this event”.
Only three days of stop and then Scenari 2024 will bring a poker of events and six authors, starting from Thursday 4 July, destined to give even more defined and marked contours to this extraordinary review:
Thursday 4th July, St. Peter’s Steps, 9pm: Sigfrido Ranucci ‘The Choice’ (Bompiani publisher)
Friday 5 July, atrium Palazzo San Domenico, 9pm: Sara Doris ‘Ennio mio padre’ (Piemme) and Dario Maltese ‘Les Italiens’ (Rizzoli). Dialogue with Pier Augusto Stagi
Saturday 6 July, St. Peter’s steps, 9pm: Serena Bortone ‘A te vicino così dolce’ (Rizzoli). Dialogue with Marianna Triberio
Sunday 7 July, municipal hall, 9pm: Massimo Carlotto ‘Trudy’ (Einaudi) and Piergiorgio Pulixi ‘For an hour of love’ (Rizzoli). Dialogue with Marianna Triberio
